Explanation:
Stars are forming in the gigantic dust pillar called the Cone Nebula.
Cones, pillars, and majestic
flowing shapes abound in
stellar
nurseries where natal clouds of gas and dust are buffeted by
energetic winds from newborn stars.
The Cone Nebula,
a well-known example, lies within the bright
galactic star-forming region
NGC 2264.
The Cone
was captured in unprecedented detail in
this close-up composite
of several observations from the Earth-orbiting
Hubble Space Telescope.
While the Cone Nebula,
about 2,500 light-years away
in Monoceros,
is around 7 light-years long,
the region pictured here
surrounding the cone's blunted head is a mere 2.5 light-years across.
In our neck of the galaxy
that distance is just over half way
from the Sun to its nearest stellar neighbor, the
Alpha Centauri star system.
The massive star
NGC 2264 IRS, seen by Hubble's infrared camera
in 1997, is the likely source of the wind
sculpting the Cone Nebula and lies off the top of the image.
The Cone Nebula's reddish veil is
produced by glowing hydrogen gas.